Following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump Saturday, Illinois Democrats expressed concern for the former president, outrage over the shooting, and called for an end to political violence.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker had unkind words Tuesday when asked about Republican vice president nominee JD Vance.
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However, when asked to opine Tuesday on the U.S. senator Trump picked as his running mate, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said, “I’d be happy to stay here for about 45 minutes to tell you about the history of JD Vance.
“He is someone who has very extremist views,” Pritzker added. “He’s not just anti-choice, against reproductive rights, but he also thinks that if you have been raped, or had incest committed against you, that you should be forced to have that child.”
Trump announced his choice of Ohio Republican Vance Monday on social media amid the Republican National Convention.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who joined Pritzker at a news conference Tuesday announcing a quantum computing project in the Chicago area, also chimed in.
U.S. Sen. JD Vance was chosen by former President Donald Trump as his running mate.
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Vance deliberately blocked multiple appointments for U.S. attorneys, including vacancies in Illinois, said Durbin, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Durbin said he asked Vance “how can you be for law and order and talk about stopping the scourge of fentanyl and other terrible things (like) human trafficking” and halt judicial appointments.
“He said … his goal was to grind the Department of Justice to a halt,” because of ongoing court cases involving Trump.
“It was strictly a political move,” Durbin said. “That does not give me a lot of hope in terms of what his politics mean for a lot of people looking for law and order across the United States.”
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin
Vance and other conservative senators said in a statement, “we will not permit the fast-tracking of nominees who have suggested the Trump prosecutions were reasonable (or) endorsed President Trump’s guilt in these sham proceedings.”
Regarding the shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Pritzker condemned the violence.
“I am very pleased that (Trump) remained relatively unharmed,” he said. “I am saddened and find it extremely tragic that someone with, apparently an assault weapon, killed people at that rally.”
“It’s still true Donald Trump is a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist and has been a congenital liar,” Pritzker added.